What are ‘Emojis’ and why use them?
Whatis.com describes an image as ‘A small image, either static or animated that represents a facial expression, an entity, or a concept (among other possibilities) in digital communications’.
Whatis.com
You can get an emoji for almost everything you can think of these days and emojis are being more diverse and more get added all the time. Emojis have spread across a variety of marketing channels from social networks, emails, texts, and beyond.
So why are they important? Well, the phrase a picture is worth 1000 words is certainly true. As consumers of information online we are highly visual. Emojis are a great way to say more, with less- they can help set the tone and use remaining text (which is sometimes limited on social channels) to add substance.
Emojis help give feeling to our words and help us look like an authentic human and not a business machine. They are a great substitute for facial expression and help give visual cues. You can add emojis to your replies as well as your posts and help build a genuine reaction.
It is important to remember that no everyone interprets emojis in the same way. In fact, some have alternative (and sometimes risqué) meanings. Check out the peach and aubergine, to name a couple.
HOW TO USE THEM
Know your audience
It is always important to really understand who you are targeting in your marketing and your business. (Check out my blog on building your customer persona). Not all audiences will appreciate emojis or find them relevant to your brand.
Encourage real-time engagement
It is great to encourage your audience to like or love your posts, and also respond to their comments on your social media using emojis, if relevant too.
Personalise to your brand
Some brands like to utilise consistent emojis in their content and make them form part of their brand kit. For example, a client of mine who is an osteopath uses the ‘fire’ emoji to describe pain and a ‘butterfly’ to show how she supports her clients from pain to freedom.
Use them in the right time and place
Take your customers lead when using emojis across other platforms. For example, don’t throw in an emoji to your professional email unless your client does first.
Make it relevant
Don’t force it when it comes to using emojis. If they don’t fit with your brand or message then it’s not worth utilising them. Only use them when they are relevant to your activities.
Make it inclusive
I love that emojis are moving towards being far more inclusive and it is important that brands consider this when utilising emojis in their content.
If you would love to learn more about emojis and how to bring them into your content marketing I would love to help. We can arrange a power hour or a more in-depth chat to see how I can support you.
